Thomas Breen photo
Helen Powell and John Carlos outside Stop & Shop on Saturday.
Veronica Cue, Cynthia Hogan, and Allison Bryant on the picket line.
John Carlos walked to the Whalley Avenue Stop & Shop to pick up a few steaks.
He left without food in hand, but with a new appreciation for the pension, healthcare, and salary needs of the store’s striking employees.
The encounter took place Saturday morning, which marked the third day running of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) strike. Upwards of 31,000 Stop & Shop employees from throughout the region walked off their jobs and picket in support of a new contract with better medical and pension plans.
Dozens of New Haven Stop & Shop workers held the picket line outside the Whalley Avenue store on Saturday morning even amidst the gray and soggy weather and the steady drip of local customers looking to do their regular weekend grocery shopping.
Stop & Shop on Whalley Avenue.
John Carlos, who declined to give his last name, was one such prospective shopper on Saturday. With earphones tucked into each ear, he tried to walk in through the store’s entrance. A striking worker told him that the People’s United Bank inside the building was still open, but the grocery store was unstaffed and closed.
That didn’t sit well with John Carlos at first.
“I would kill for a job here,” he said, noting that he is both a regular Stop & Shop customer and currently unemployed. He said he submitted a job application to work at this store several weeks ago, but never heard back.
“They’ve got to fight for their rights,” he said, “but they shouldn’t disrupt” people’s needs to get groceries.
Helen Powell, a veteran labor organizer who used to work as the city’s Democratic Deputy Registrar of Voters before working 10 years at Shaw’s and, now, eight years at Stop & Shop, said she recognizes that a grocery store worker strike can have a negative short-term impact on the community.
“The community is suffering,” she said. But, she said, the roughly 150 workers at the New Haven Stop & Shop aren’t on the picket lines because they want to be. They’re striking because their livelihoods depend on it.
Laurie Cretella, Barbara Chapman, and Chiffon McGill.
She said the company wants to cut pension and healthcare benefits and increase employee contributions for both current and future workers. She said the company wants to provide bonuses rather than salary increases and wants to get rid of time-and-a-half pay on Sundays. Plus, she said, the company wants to slowly phase out human workers with automated services like Marty, the new in-store roving robot.
“Everybody needs healthcare,” she said. “And that Marty, he can’t wait on the customers” like actual people can.
When will the strike end and the store reopen? John Carlos asked.
“Maybe this week,” Powell said. “Maybe next week.” It all depends, she said, on when the company returns to the contract negotiating table with the union and starts negotiating in good faith.
“I know it hurts,” Powell said.
It certainly is inconvenient, John Carlos said. “But I know you’re doing the right thing.” He said he didn’t know where he would go instead to do grocery shopping, but that he understands now why he can’t shop here.
Josselyn Miranda.
Josselyn Miranda, who was also surprised to find out that she couldn’t do her regular shopping at Stop & Shop Saturday morning, needed less convincing as to the merits of the strike.
“Every time I come here, they’re nothing but nice,” she said about the workers at Stop & Shop. “They do deserve better pensions and healthcare.”
She said she would likely do her grocery shopping in West Haven or Hamden instead, now that she knows she can’t shop at the New Haven Stop & Shop.
“I’m devastated right now,” she said. “It’s very convenient.”
But when a striking worker explained to her why the store was closed and the nature of the union’s demands, Miranda had only one response. “Where can I sign up to support?”
On the company’s website, Stop & Shop President of New England Division Mark McGowan wrote, “This is a challenging time, but I want you to know that I and the entire Stop & Shop team remain firmly committed to getting a fair new contract in place for all of our associates in New England. Our team is standing by and remains ready to continue negotiations anytime. We hope that the UFCW local unions return to the table to reach a fair and responsible contract now.”